Apparatus for making mixed fibers.



No. 879,165. PATENTEI] PEI). 18, 1998.

P. M. HAMLIN. APPARATUS FOR MAKING MIXED FIBERS APPLICATION FILED MAY25, 1907. I

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ilglh No. 879,165. PATENTED FEB. 18, 1908.

' r P. M. HAMLIN.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING MIXED FIBERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1907.

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BEST AVAlMllBLE' COPY PULASKI M. HAMLIN, OF CATAWISSA, PENliSYlfi/ANIA,

ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CHARLES H. 'UNYERZAGT, F )EW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR. MAKING? MIXED FIBERS.

No. swim.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed May 25. 1907. Serial No. 375568.

To all whom may concern:

Be it linown that l, PULASKI M. HAMLIN, a. citizen of the United States, residing at Shumsn street, Cetswissa, county of Columbin, and State of Pennsylvania, heveinyente'd certain new and useful improvements in Apparatus for til-Liking Mixed Fibers, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drewings, forming a. port of l; he some.

The object-of ii'ivention is to save and utilize the steam which is often wasted in the cooking or dig ting; oi' wood cellulose, and to produce min of two diflerentiibers by disintegrstii (Lilli coinl'iinil-ig them into a, single homo ieous substance, by mere discharge into a disintegrating apparatus. it known that strew can be reduced at a lower temperature than. wood, and I save the cost ol the steam. which would otherwise be required in cooting; the strsw cellulose, by using th i em from the wood cooking (l ies stesi'i'i is discharged tl'irough s nl rt F valv which proi'hices 21nd Ulllffl'tlll c .uhition in the V tenundwhich wen eseepingi rom troori-coolaingg il'gei' ler through reli. i valve and is cooking digester. The 1'- from the wood-cooking lent to properly cook and the materiel in. the s l: raw digester.

jcct oi. this invention is to furnish moons of combining fibers thus ed into :2. homogjcn s mass to produce s. "will suhsl' in? n hi5, "zlili. paper, havof th smersil fibers used. .lillli composite iihcr. the blow-- lhc two digcsters are connected blow-dank, smiths blow-oil xzlifliinuousl; opemtml so that l. tillers into the tank at the ii a not only to combine the ibers, but to d 1: o iZl%;.l':Ll.Q- the materiel in the e n inner and thus produces e .llQ'JDOQ icons produc without the use of any eel disintc storf l he understood by refer-- 1 drawing, in which is. com' lc digest The further oh tion of the some; Fig. 4 is a transverse section at the middle of the plug; and Fig. 5 is a horizontal section at the middle of the plug.

a designates the high pressure digester in which wood is red 7r ssure dig ester in which straw is reduced; and c the blow-tank into which the two fibers are discharged to disintegrate and mix the same.

The blow-tank is supported upon frames d, and wnshpsns e are shown below the blowtenlr to receive the mixed fibers therefrom to wash the some; and in practice, s receptscle j' arranged. still farther below the wsshpens for holding the washed fiber or pulp. The blow-tank is shown with an outlet velve u and s swinging spout h which may be placed in turn over each of the washpens for discharging the fiber thereto.

Each dig-ester hes av manhole by which it can be filled, and which. is provided with a tight cover i. The digesteru is supplied with steam under pressure by a. pipe 9' and valve k. A. stesni connection between the two digesters formed by a. pipe Z having a steam-valve Z, and having also inserted in it the reliefvelve g which vents e limited amount of steam from the digester c to the digester b; which letter is also provided with a dischargepipe it h :iving e si mil er rcliet-vslve g.

The worms on the blow-off valves (1" of the two digesters are connected by a shaft 70 fitted with bevel-gears p, so that both can be opened sin'iult sncously; nected by outlet-pipes m with. the blow-tank 0, so that the contents of both the digesters in say be discharged into the tank together.

The rcli i-velve, shown in Figs. 2 to 5, is formed with a. rotary ping g having the main passage 7L by which the steam can when desired he lrei-ily dischhrged from the digester, and having at right angles thereto eunuch smaller ventpassege o extendin through the plug, which. may be set in. any esired position, as shown in Fig. 5, to discharge a limited amount of steam through the valve.

It is well known that Where steam is turned into a receptacle without venting the same, the circuh'ition. of steam ceases and the tem pereture falls, but that the venting of a small amount of steam. permits new steam to enter, thus maintaining the temperature at the de sired point. The relief-valve connected with uced. to fiber; b the lowenough steam to escape to maintain the circulatlon in such digester. The stop-valve Z in the pipe Z serves to wholly disconnect the digesters when desired, so that either digester a or b can beused alone. p

In Fig. 1 of the drawing, the blow-tankis shown provided with an inverted baiile-tank 0, into which the fiber is blown upward as it enters from the digesters, the two fibers -being thus disintegrated by impact with the bafile-tank while they are simultaneously mixed together in the most efiective manner; but'the construction of the blow-tank isnot material, as any means may be used for mix ing the fibers intimately when discharged The blow-tank is com-- from .the digesters. monly open at the top. W'ith this apparatus a charge of the requisite material is placed in each of the digesters, and the relief'valve g for the digester a is turned in such position as to slowly discharge some steam into the (li-- gester b, theventin of the steam therefrom by its own relief-Va ve completing the cooking of the material in the digester b at about 'the same time that the material is cooked in the digester a. When thus completely cooked,

the material is discharged from both diges ters simultaneously by the rotation of the shaft it, thus delivering the material into the blow-tank in such a manner as to disintegrate and intimately mix the same. The disintegration is caused by' the concussion of the fibers with one another and with the walls of the inverted baflle-tank c which is shown of such small dimensions that the fibers discharged into this baffle-tank are thrown into direct contact with one another and mingled intimately while driven out of such bafiletank by the succeeding current of material.

It is well known that thefiber produced from pine and analogous woods has consider 'able len th and tenacity, but very little hardness; w ile the fiber produced from straw possesses hardness and smoothness, and is very short and therefore lacks tenacity. The mixture of the two fibers produces a composite fiber which combines the good. qualities of both. This composite fiber is a not claimed herein as it is made the subject of a separate application.

In practice, it is found that by the use of the waste steam, from the treatment of wood in the high pressure digester, to cook the straw cellulose in the low pressure digester, less chemicals are required tor -3()l( the straw, for the reason, that in venting steam from the high pressure digester more or less of the caustic solution always escapes with the steam and produces a perceptible effect upon the straw.

arenas My present invention relates chiefly to the mechanism for thus venting the steam from a a high pressure digester to a low pressure digester which is engaged in simultaneously ing steam under high pressure to the high pressure digester, and means for connecting the tops of the two digesters and venting a 0 regulated amount of steam from the high pressure digester into the low pressure digester, to maintain therein the lower tom-- peraturerequired to cook the fiber therein. W

2. The combination, with high and low pressure di csters operated simultaneously to cook at diverse pressures fibers which reuire materially different temperatures for their reduction to cellulose, of a pipe supply ing steam under high pressure to the high pressure digesters, and a pipe connecting tops of the two digesters with a valve in such pipe having a vent passage for renting a regulated amount-of steam from the high pressure digester into the low pressure digester to maintain therein the lower temperature required to cook the fibertherein.

3. The combination, with high and low pressure digesters a and i; operated simultaneously for cooking fibers at diverse pressures, of a pipe supplying steam to the high pressure digester for cooking the material in the same, the pipe Z connecting the two 'd igesters with the valve 9 in such pipe having a vent-passage for venting a limited amount of steam from the digester a to the digester b, and the low pressure digester b having a pipe h and valve 9 for dischar ing the steam from such digester, the valve iav ing a i passage for discharging the steam fn whe cquired, and a smaller vent passage for venting the steam from the lower pressure digester during the cooking operation.

4. The apparatus for making a' composite fiber comprising two .digesters with steam connections arranged and operated for oooking two materials in; the two digesters, a blow-tank to receive and disintegrate the two materials when cooked in the two digesters, the blow-oil valves a upon the digesters with pipes connecting such valves to the blow-tank, and means for simultaneously opening such blow-oil valves and dis charging the materials from. hot lithe iligesters into the tank simultaneously in. contact with lit) one another, for disintegrating and mingling the two materials into a composite fiber.

5. The apparatus for making a composite fiber, comprising the digesters-rwanTFb for operating at diiierent pressures, the pipe and valve 70 for supplying steam to the high pressure digester, steam connections for deivering a regulated'ainount ofsteam from the digester a to the digester bfor maintaining a lower temperature in the digester 1) than in the digester a, the blow-off valves (1 one upon each of the digesters, the blow tank 0 with pi es connecting the 'bloW-ofi valves a with t e said tank, and a shaft connecting such blow-off valves with means for operating it to open both blow-off valves simultaneously and discharge the contents of both cligesters into the blow-tanlrsimultaneously.

6 The apparatus for making acomposite fiber, comprising means for simultaneously cooking two materials to produce two different fibers simultaneously, and. means for discharging such cooked fibers simultaneously under pressure into contact with one another to disintegrate the fibers and mingle the same into a homogeneous composite fiber. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand -in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

; PULASKI M. HABHJIN. Witnesses: I

JEssIE G. VANDINE, ELIZABETH DE HART. 

